Julia's 2nd Birthday

We celebrated Julia's 2nd birthday on July 14th.
Jules got her favorite foods...can you guess?

Fruit, fruit...

...and more fruit!

She had a great time!

The Blackwelders came over, and we all celebrated.

Julia was very excited to get her birthday muffin!

Mmm-mmm-good!

Joan Blackwelder loved on Jules.

Martin Blackwelder played with Jules.

Cesilee Blackwelder took pictures of Jules.

Julia loved opening her presents...

...and getting new toys to play with.

She got a drink bottle like her older siblings already had.

Julia loved celebrating her birthday!

Now she's 2 years old!

The Blackwelders were a wonderful part of our celebration!

We were so glad they could come!

And Julia loved all the new things she got to try out, including some new outfits from the Blackwelders!

~

Happy Birthday Julia Grace!

Camping in Michigan - The Town

One afternoon, while Syl, Stephen and Julia napped in the tent, Jon, Syndi and Junior made a little trek into the town of Harrisville.
We followed a trail through the woods and into town.
We walked a few miles.

We stopped to take pictures along the way.

You can see Lake Huron at the back edge of the property.

Syndi and Junior had a lot of fun.

It was a quaint little town.

We stopped at a playground along the way.

Every once in a while, I get reminded that I need to get me a shotgun.

We walked to the harbor, which was a really cool place.

We walked the boardwalk...

...posed for some pictures...

...checked out some boats...

...walked the boardwalk...

...and posed for more pictures.

Then the kids convinced me that we had to go into town for ice cream.

We had some difficulty finding the ice cream shop and were about to give up and head back to the campground, and then we spotted it at the last second.

We really enjoyed our huge scoops of ice cream.

Little did we know, Syl had intended to head into town for ice cream, so we later made a return trip to town, and Syl, Stephen and Julia got their cones.

It was a fun journey!

Camping in Michigan - The Fishing

One afternoon we took a trip to a nearby fish pond.
Syndi, Junior and Stephen each got to catch a fish.

The kids loved it...

...and enjoyed having help from Mommy.

Julia was fascinated by these wiggling creatures...

...and did a dance to mimic their flopping.

Daddy had to get the fish of the hook.

Junior wanted to feel the skin.

All the kids watched as the girl gutted the fish, showed them the organs (good biology lesson), and cleaned them out.

It was a fun afternoon at the fish farm!

Camping in Michigan - The Fire

We enjoyed lots of time around the fire while camping.

Here Sylvia can be seen making eggs for breakfast.
We enjoyed meals around the fire...

... and toasted marshmallows at night.

Here Junior works at a favorite Caruvana method of torching...er, toasting marshmallows. It involves complete immersion of the marshmallow in flame. It looks cool and tastes great!

Eating the torched marshmallow means pulling off the outer charcoaled layer and eating it.

Mmmmmmmm...

Stevie quite enjoyed it.

As you can see.

Oh what a mess!